


Fools Paradise

by Insane_Dorito



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: M/M, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2015-01-14
Packaged: 2018-02-24 13:25:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2583002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insane_Dorito/pseuds/Insane_Dorito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This AU starts 4 years after the original show. I didn’t pick up with everything that happened or would happend. So Dipper and Mabel live a (kind of) normal life until there is something bad happening to friends and other people at their school. Dipper and Mabel try to figure out whats going on. Some well known dream demon appears. Things are going to get worse, you know the thing~ (there will also be BillDip later!)</p><p>Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sleep Well!

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo I started this “Gravity Falls" fanfic. Well, what can I say :"D I’m not really a pro writer, but I felt such a huge need to write something down and here it is! A simple start so I can try getting better at this… Bear with me! I hope I didn’t do that many mistakes and it even makes sense. Well, just ckeck it out and tell me what you think? Would be really great ;3

"Is this what you want?" The voice sounded deep, but not ‘old man’ deep. It was an indeterminate kind of deep, and the voice seemed to change with every word spoken. It sounded so soothing that the person who answered its question didn't hesitate to agree with whatever it was asking for. "Yes! Please, just send me back." It was a girl’s voice who answered, her voice timid and a bit sleepy. It came from a little light floating through the darkness. There was a flicking sound, and a moment later, the darkness was gone. The girl’s light merged with the light that now surrounded her, and all that stayed behind was a slight humming sound. She was gone. 

\--- 

Summer was coming, and it was finally getting warmer. Dipper could feel the afternoon sun shine through the bus window and into his face.   
Side by side with his sister Mabel, he was sitting in the school bus, watching as the other people walked home or were fetched by their parents. Others in his class already had their driving licenses by now! The next thing he should take care of.   
Dipper’s thoughts drifted off for a moment as the bus began to move. He thought back to last weekend. He, Mabel and his parents had visited Gravity Falls for the anniversary of their uncle’s death. He’d passed away a whole year ago, but Dipper still couldn't believe that they would never again spend their summers in Gravity Falls. All the memories, good and bad, were so far away - and yet still so close. As he recounted all the adventures they’d been through, his sister poked him in the face. 

"What's going on in that big head of yours, bro-bro?" she asked, smiling at him. Her grin had become different .It could have been because she didn't need to wear her braces anymore.   
"Nothing," he said quickly, and defended himself from getting poked again, Mabel obviously wasn't buying his response at all.   
"Stop it Mabel! Aren't you supposed to be more mature now?" Mabel just aimed for his belly instead, and after poking him into a good spot that made her brother hiss annoyed, she just slumped back into her seat. "Being mature all the time isn't fun! And besides, I was thinking about last weekend and I need a distraction." 

By now her smile had gone away, and Dipper felt slightly sorry. Dipper sighed.   
“Same here,” he admitted. Before she could respond”, he nudged her shoulder.   
"Well, how's that dress of yours coming along?" Dipper knew his sister loved to talk about the dress she was making for the summer dance. And as though she had instantly forgotten about what they were just talking about, she started to babble about how awesome the dress would look when it was finished, and that she would become the summer dance queen. 

Dipper just smiled Mabel was shining again, and that was just how he liked to see his beloved sister. As they got off the bus, Mabel was still talking, and some regret made its way into Dipper’s head as they walked the rest of the way home. Fortunately, Mabel soon was distracted by Waddles - who was waiting in their front yard, like he always did. It had had taken a week of arguing before their parents finally agreed to allow their daughter to keep the pig - on the condition that it stayed outside of the house. But when Mabel started to sleep outside in the little dog house their father had made for Waddles, they soon changed their minds - and Waddles became a part of the family, living in the house with the rest of them. 

When Mabel was finished greeting Waddles, she and Dipper entered the house. Dipper let his schoolbag slide of his shoulder, threw his jacket into a corner, and went into the kitchen. There was a note on the fridge: 

"I'm over at Sandra’s house, meal is in the oven. Be back soon!   
Hugs and kisses, Mom.   
P.S: Dipper, if I find your jacket on the ground one more time, you will be mowing the lawns in the back and front yard all summer!" 

With a whirl, Dipper turned around and picked up his jacket, putting it in the closet. His mother knew him way too well. "Haha, Mom got you there," Mabel said, laughing, while waving the note at him. He decided to ignore her and opened the oven, groaning at what was inside. Just as he’d expected, it was one of their Mom’s notorious vegetable gratins. Dipper closed the oven door and opened the fridge instead. He took a milk bottle out, chugging some of it down. 

"Ewww! Use a glass, or Mom’s going to scold you!” Mabel protested and turned her attention to the oven. She took a portion of the vegetable-based mud inside for herself, and then gave some of it to Waddles.   
"I don’t think Mom would be happy to see you feeding Waddles her gratin either!" Dipper shot back.   
" We’ll call it a draw this time," she replied, giving the pig another spoonful of whatever it was that their mother called food. 

Dipper left the kitchen and made his way upstairs, taking his schoolbag with him and entering his room. On the way to his desk, he almost tripped over a pile of dirty laundry. As always, though, he quickly forgot about the heap of messy clothes made his way to his desk. Shoving some papers aside, he sat down on the chair next to the desk and unpacked his bag to prepare for his homework. Sure, he wasn't the tidiest guy around, but he was smart - his good grades spoke for themselves. He was just beginning to write something down when his door swung open and Mabel stepped well, twirled - into the room... and totally stumbled over the same pile of dirty clothes Dipper had avoided minutes before. As a result, she collapsed right onto his bed. 

"Haven’t I told you to knock?" Dipper said with a sharp tone, and spun around with his swivel chair to face his sister.   
"There is nothing embarrassing left I could catch you doing, what's the point?" she replied, and giggled as she sat upright again.   
"What... you... just knock, okay?!" he spluttered and quickly turned around again to face his schoolwork. Having a twin sister was both a curse and... well, an even worse curse! 

While he tried to pay attention to his work, Dipper heard the sound of Mabel rustling around in his stuff behind him. He was just about to say something when she spoke up.   
"What’s this?" she asked, sounding puzzled.   
Dipper turned around once more to see what his sister was talking about.   
Mabel was holding some kind of urn in her hand. It looked really old, and it had some kind of strange symbols on its surface. 

"I took it when we visited the Shack last week. It was in Grunkle Stan’s room, I thought it was interesting so I took it with me. Who knows, maybe I can decrypt the symbols."   
"You just took it? Who knows what creepy stuff is hidden in it?!" Mabel made a show of holding the urn away from herself, and looked at it skeptically.   
"Chill, Mabel. There’s nothing in it."   
"How do you know?"   
"Well..." Dipper inhaled sharply, and his next words tumbled out of his mouth all at once.   
"I might have opened it by accident and nothing happened at all. So, I think it’s just some old junk or something, and I’ll look into it later." 

Mabel looked down at the box she’d taken the urn from. It was filled with lots of strange things that her brother had probably brought all the way from Gravity Falls.   
"I thought you were over those 'mystery things'?" she asked, carefully placing the urn back into the box.   
"Thought it wouldn’t hurt to keep my mind trained with some code cracking, that's all," he answered, not even looking up from his homework. The truth was, he had never really given up his love for all the mysteries around him. After his uncle died, he just didn't wanted to be reminded of it all the time - so he had shoved everything that reminded him of Gravity Falls out of his mind. Now that a year had passed, he felt that he could handle it. 

"Well, if you say so bro-bro!" Mabel shrugged and jumped off his bed.   
"I have to call Anna. I hope she feels better now, a whole week without school - and a week without me - must be totally boring!" Standing up and brushing the dust off her sweater, his sister strode out of the room, closing the door behind her. 

A few minutes later, Dipper finished another task. He stretched his arms and neck, and opened one of his desk drawers to take out a candy bar he’d been hiding for bad times. Just as he moved to take bite from it, Mabel run into his room again.   
"Mabel, didn't I told..." He didn't finish his sentence when he saw the tears in his sister’s eyes.   
"Mabel, what's wrong? What happened?" Dipper stood up, concerned.   
"Its... it’s Anna! She’s in th-the hospital, she’s in a... a coma!" Seeming too upset to continue, Mabel then burst into tears.   
"Wait, just sit down first and try to calm down!" Doing his best to hide his alarm, Dipper gently guided his sister into his chair.   
"What happened exactly?" he asked, putting the candy bar into Mabel’s hands. It seemed like would need it more than him. Mabel sniffled a few times before she spoke again.   
"I was calling her, and her m-mom picked up the phone. S-she told me that Anna had been getting worse over the past few days - that she was only sleeping the whole day, and then as she went to bring her breakfast this morning, she wouldn't wake up at all."   
"Oh Mabel, I'm so sorry... what did the doctors say?"   
"They j-just said they had no idea of what caused the coma." Mabel looked really miserable, and Dipper didn't feel any better himself. It wasn’t his best friend who was in the hospital, but Mabel didn’t get to see Candy and Grenda anymore. She’d finally become happy again when she and Anna became best friends. And now that friend had been taken away from her.   
"Take a bite," he suggested, gesturing to the candy bar in Mabel’s hands. Not seeming sure, Mabel took a bite and chewed slowly. Dipper hoped that chocolate would help at least a little.   
"Don't worry, Mabel. She’ll be fine!"   
"You think so?" "I'm sure of it! The doctors will help her." He rummaged through his bag, searching for some tissues. 

He gave one to his sister once he found them. It seemed she had calmed down a bit. Dipper walked down the stairs with her, as they heard their mom unlocking the front door.  
With Dipper’s support, Mabel told their mom what had happened, and their mom promised to later take Mabel to the hospital so she could visit Anna. 

\--- 

Two hours later, Mabel and her Mom were in the car, driving off to the hospital. Mabel had called Anna’s mom again, just to make sure she was actually allowed to visit Anna - and Anna’s mom just seemed to be glad to hear that Mabel wanted to see Anna. When they arrived at the hospital, Mabel and her mom asked for Anna’s room number, and then boarded the elevator that would bring them to the right floor. Anna’s mother was waiting on a little bench in front of the room, and she smiled weakly at Mabel as she and her mother approached.   
"You can go inside," she said quietly and Mabel nodded as the woman then began to talk with her mother. 

Mabel didn't know if she needed to knock, but she did anyways before opening the door and walking in. There were two beds in the room. - in one of them lay an older man, in the other her friend. Holding back her tears, Mabel walked over to Anna, and looked her over. Nothing seemed to be wrong; she looked like she was just sleeping. Mabel took her friend’s hand and began to speak. 

"I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm here.," she said softly, and squeezed Anna’s hand a bit. There was no reaction, but she kept talking anyways.   
"I want you to wake up again. Jason asked for you, you know! I bet he wanted to ask you out for the summer dance. If you don’t wake up, he might ask Stella instead!"   
There was still no reaction, and Mabel felt something warm roll down her cheeks. The tears fell onto her hand, which was still holding her friend’s. 

"Aww, stop crying little lady." A voice suddenly came from across the room. The older man was sitting up in his bed, looking at Mabel.   
"I-I'm sorry Sir, I didn't mean to wake you up!" Mabel said hurriedly, wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her sweater.   
"No need to apologize! This old body seems like it needs some movement anyways," he said, and smiled at her. Mabel just smiled back, feeling a little bit better.   
"Looks like your friend here is in some kind of trouble, is that right?" he asked.   
"I wish I could help her, but it seems that there is nothing I can do. Don't need to hang your head, though - she’ll be fine!"   
"You think so?"   
"I know so!" The old man grinned at Mabel.   
"Oh, are you some kind of doctor, too?" she asked, surprised.   
"Not quite, but let’s say I have some experiences with these kinds of things," he answered, giggling. 

Upon seeing Mabel’s doubtful face, though, his laughter died down and he gave her a sincere look.   
"No really, chill. She’ll be alright again in a few weeks, you’ll see," he said reassuringly. Mabel decided that the old man really was nice. Kind of weird, but mostly nice. She offered him a grateful smile.   
"Thank you, but I should go back to see my mom now. Maybe we’ll meet again?" Mabel walked over to the door before looking back at the man.   
"I'm sure we will! Can't wait," he said with another grin. Mabel was about to open the door to leave when the man spoke up one more time.   
"Oh, and tell your brother I said hi!" Mabel turned around, surprised, but the old man was somehow already sleeping again. 

Weird. How did he know about her brother? Then again, old people were wise. Maybe he just knew it in his heart. Some things came with old age, and not just white hair and weird noses! Mabel finally shrugged and walked out the door.   
"How is she, honey?" her mother asked Mabel approached them.   
"Still asleep." Mabel sighed as she down between the two older women.   
"No worries, she will be fine again," her mother said comfortingly, kissing her on the head.   
"I'm sure she will be. Even the old man said she would be fine!" Mabel said, smiling up at her mom.   
"Which old man, sweetie?" Anna’s mother asked with concern. Mabel blinked and looked at the woman, confused.   
"Well... the man in her room?" "Mr. Carter? But isn’t he a coma patient too? He's been in there for two years now. Did you really speak with him?" Surprised, Mabel didn't know how to answer to the question.   
Maybe all of the stress and worrying was taking its toll on her...   
She decided to tell Dipper about it when she got home.


	2. Memories of Shapes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mystery Twins are going to be back in action~

Dipper was lying on his bed, facing the ceiling where he had put some poster with pictures of several galaxies and constellations he liked. 

He went through a little astronomical phase last year. This together with some other stuff like a telescope, some space rockets and planets hanging from the ceiling, were some last remnants. He thought about what happened while he focused on the constellation of Andromeda.

Anna wasn't really one of his own friends, she was Mabel's. His sister looked so sad, it was making him feel a little bit worried himself. Closing his eyes for a moment, he tried to think of something else. 

Maybe he should read something? Play a video game? Or just turn on his computer and chat with his friends?   
Nope, he wasn't in the mood to do any of this. 

A sigh left his throat as he stretched himself and accidentally kicked the box that he had brought with him from the Shack. He looked down at it and set upright. Grabbing it Dipper shoved it beside him. 

There was so much stuff in it. He didn't even really knew why he took most of the things. Some of them had those strange symbols he had tried to decode some years ago. Maybe it would be a good idea to focus on them again. It would distract him a bit until Mabel came back. All he would need now was that old journal he found in the woods of Gravity Falls. Where did he put it again? 

Dipper looked around his room, under his bed, around his desk. Where was it? Then he suddenly remembered and went out of the room. He stopped under a certain spot in the middle of the corridor. 

Above him was the closed hatch to the attic. Dipper took a little stepladder out of a closet and stepped on it to open the hatch and grab the ladder to pull it down. 

Already smelling the dusty warm air of the room, he went upstairs and looked around. Maybe he should have brought a flashlight, since the last light of the day only illuminated some parts of the attic and it looked slightly spooky up here. Not that he was scared or anything! Those times were over, he was almost an adult now. There was no way he still was the same kid like he was in Gravity Falls. Nope! 

Deciding that he was to lazy to get one he just went in and looked around to search for a certain box. He walked around and almost stumbled over something soft. 

As he looked closely he got a slightly heart attack. It was that super creepy bear plush toy, Bear-O! God this thing gave him the creeps! Why did Mabel had loved it so much? Dipper just kicked it behind some other boxes before he went deeper into the labyrinth of boxes. 

Finally he found the what he was searching for. It was an old chest and brushing the dust from away, he opened it. And there it was, with some other stuff they brought back from Gravity falls years ago.

After he took the bock and laid it beside he just took a moment to look at all the other objects. There were like hundreds of videocassettes and his old camera. With a smile Dipper remembered how he had recorded his discoveries. 

There were also other things like a Box full of Photos and Mabels favourite photo album of their first summer in Gravity Falls. He took it with him, maybe some old funny photos would cheer his sister up a bit, when she came back. 

While rustling further he found lots of other things, too. His hand grabbed a little doll that was made out of a sock. The little Mabel sock doll, the only one that survived the little incident on Mabel's sock opera. 

For a moment Dipper thought about that day, thought about what happened and about a demon who had tricked him and took over his body. Bill. Bill Cipher. That crazy dream demon. And for a moment Dipper wondered what had become of him? They never really saw him again. 

Shaking his head he put all the things back in the box. He took the two books and left the attic again. 

A sound came from the front door and just as Dipper put away the little stepladder, the door opened and his mother came in followed by Mabel. "Hey sis, how is Anna?" he asked as he walked downstairs. Mabel's face told him that there wasn't any good news following. 

\---

Mabel told him everything as they sat in her room later. She on her bed with a big bowl of chocolate ice-cream with more sprinkles then ever and Dipper on the ground, flicking through the journal. 

"...and then he said I should say "Hi" to you? What was that about?" she said and stuffed her mouth with another spoon of ice-cream. Dipper looked up from the book and looked rather confused.   
"Mhhh, maybe he knew us somehow? Maybe Anna's Mom spoke about us to her?" He wasn't even sure if that really made sense. He was just searching for a fitting explanation.

"Maybe." Mabel sighed and took the photo album, Dipper had gave her. She opened it and the first she saw way a picture of her and her brother before they went to Gravity Falls for the first time.   
There was a little smile on her face. 

"Do you remember how you whined about leaving?" she said and flipped the book so Dipper could see the pictures.  
"Can't remember." was just answered as Dipper saw the embarrassing photos of himself. 

Maybe he had been a bit whiney, just a little bit, but who would like to spend their summer far away from all his friends in a place somewhere - nowhere. Well, it turned out to be his greatest summer, but who would have thought that?

Now Mabel went through all the pages and sometimes she even chuckled a bit. Well, it seemed Dippers idea hadn't been that bad at all. At least Mabel wasn't looking that sad anymore. 

The rest of the evening was spend in Mabel's room. Talking about old times and the symbols Dipper wanted to decode. But it was getting late way to fast and Dipper told his sister goodnight and went to his room. 

It had been a long time since they had shared their rooms. Well, they had become older and just needed their privacy now. 

Dipper took his cloth off until he was only wearing his boxers and went to bed. Facing his ceiling he was confronted with his sleeping disorder once again. He felt tired, but he couldn't sleep. To much was going on in his head like there was a freeway that went right through his brain. Dipper almost got used to it over the years. 

He had tried everything! Reading, counting sheep's, hot milk, even pills! Nothing was a good help. So he just laid there and waited till the time passed. 

When he really felt desperate he would do the only thing that seemed to help at least a bit. Masturbate. It turned the freeway in his head at least into a highway somewhere in the desert. With some trucks here and there, but he could handle that. 

A look to his nightstand watch told him that it was 2pm now and it doesn't seemed like this night was over yet. Annoying! It was just annoying. And he felt upset as he made his hands slide under his blanked further down his belly into his boxers. 

Taking a moment to listen, he made sure no one was awake and would notice him. Mabel had caught him a few times and it was more then just embarrassing for him, even if Mabel found it totally natural and nothing he had to be ashamed of!

But he had to focus now, think of something else. He flipped trough his mind like one of his books to find something that would bring him into the right mood. 

Its wasn't that he didn't liked it. It was just that the usual reason why people did this kind of thing had been replaced for him. It was just a different feeling which caused him to do this and since it was a rather bad one, something in his head made it feel so forced. Like he had no choice. 

Things got going after he found something to think about. His breathing became heavier after a while and his movements went faster. It was as he felt the sweet sensation of relief when he bite his bottom lip to suppress a sound. 

Dipper panted slightly as removed one hand to grab a tissue from under his pillow to clean himself.   
"I'm a mess..." he thought as he laid down again, his body suddenly feeling so heavy. 

He just remembered how he looked at the glowing stars of his Andromeda constellation poster. Did they ever shined that bright? Then he finally went over to the world of dreams, dreams he mostly couldn't remember in the morning. 

 

\---

 

They had breakfast and sat at the kitchen table in the morning. Mabel was a bit more silent then usual. Dipper just shoved a bowl of cereals into himself while Mabel waited for her father to finish his special pancakes for Mabel. 

"Here you are honey~" he said and kissed her on he head, while placing a plate of pancakes in front of her. They were almost completely covered in syrup and there was a smile and some hearts made out of cream on them.   
And sprinkles, sprinkles all over them. 

"Thanks, dad!" she said smiling and started eating. Yep, their dad knew what Mabel needed.   
"Sometimes I wonder why aren't you looking like Waddles already? All that food you stuff into you." Dipper said mocking and smiled at her. 

He still was tired, but at least he managed to get almost five hours of sleep. More then most of the other days.

"You are just jelly that I have the most awesome body system." Mabel just smiled and stuffed her mouth with a big piece of pancake. 

A few minutes later they were getting ready to catch the school bus.  
"Have a nice day you two." her father said and gave Mabel a kiss on the cheek before they left the house. 

It felt like a usual Friday morning. Even Mabel was babbling about the summer dance once again. She was sure that Anna would be fine again until then. 

As they stood at the bus station and waited for the bus to arrive the weather seemed to change. The air suddenly felt electric and heavy. Dark clouds formed in the distance. 

"Looks like there will be rain, maybe a thunderstorm?" Mabel said and looked at the clouds who became even darker and soon they could hear the grumbling in the distance. 

Luckily the bus came before it started to rain. Sitting on his usual seat, Dipper looked outside the window that was covered in water from rain. 

"Hey Dip!" a familiar voice spoke up to him from behind. A classmate and one of his friends - Harvey, looked over his seat. His long blonde hair always falling ins his eyes.   
"Hey!" Dipper respond as he turned around.   
"Pretty strange stuff that's going on right?" Harvey said and crossed his arms on top of Dipper back rest.

Dipper gave him a confused look.   
"Strange things?" he asked confused.  
"You don't know?"  
"Know what?"  
"Well, that coma thing that happed to Anna?" he asked and looked to Mabel who was also listening by now.  
"Sorry, Mabel!" he added as he saw her sudden sad face.

"But what I wanted to say was, she's not the only one!"  
"What?"  
"Yes! I heard it from Ian yesterday! He called me and told me what happened to Anna and that she wasn't the only one."  
"You think Ian is telling the truth?" Dipper asked.

Dipper was highly sceptic about Ian. He was what you could call a gossiper and liked to broadcast everything he heard about. Some might think girls where nasty tattler, but he was the worse then all of them. 

"I know what you mean! Sure, I didn't believe him! But I made a little research and its true! There are two others who are in the same condition."  
Dipper looked at him disbelieving. Two other people in a coma? At the exact same time?

"Do you know who they are?" he asked.  
"Paulina Newford and Kevin Dickson, they both went to our school!"  
Paulina wasn't ringing any bells, but Dipper knew that Kevin Dickson was part of the soccer team.

"Why didn't the teachers say anything about it?" Mabel suddenly asked.  
Harvey just shrugged.   
"Maybe they didn't found it necessary or wanted to avoid a panic?"  
"Something feels weird about this." Dipper said to himself. "Maybe we should investigate a bit?" 

"Yes! The Mystery Twins are back in action!" Mabel yelled and the whole bus looked at her for a moment. They were already used to Mabel's behaviour so they just went to their own business again.

"Mystery Twins?" Harvey looked slightly confused.   
"Yeah, me and Dipper are kinda specialists on this area, we will get to the bottom of it and see if there is something mysterious going on!"

Harvey didn't looked like he had understand a single word.   
He just grabbed his bag and moved from his seat since they had arrived at school. Dipper and Mabel got off the bus and moved over to the great building. 

"I can't wait to see what's behind all this!"  
Mabel was jumping from one to another leg the whole way to their classroom. 

"Maybe its nothing." Dipper just said.   
"What!? Who are you? - and what did you do with my brother?" she asked and grabbed his shoulders. She starred into his face like she searched for something.

"What?" he asked slightly annoyed.  
"I was just making sure your the Dipper I know! You know, the Dipper that was sure everything contained a mystery or puzzle that needs to be solved!"

He just shrugged her off.  
"That was the old Dipper, I'm just thinking more rational now."  
"You mean, thinking more boring!"  
She poked his cheek while entering class.  
"C'mon Dipper, its just like in the good old times, get your spirit back man!"

They sat down on their seats and a girl with short red hair went over to them. She took a chair from another desk and set down before theirs.   
"Morning you two~" she said and grinned. 

"Morning Rebecca!" the two said and Mabel started to unpack her bag.  
"Seems like there will be a free hour, we are lucky! I wasn't in the mood for history class at all." she said and toyed around with her necklace. 

"Oh, is something wrong wit Miss Tailor?" Mabel asked and stopped for a moment.  
"Seems like she is ill or something, Brian went to the teacher's room because he had to hand over that imposition and they told him she wasn't there."  
"Maybe she's just late?" Dipper shrugged.  
"Miss Tailor? She's the first to come here!" Rebecca sighed. 

There was this little sense of foreboding and Dipper he looked over to Mabel. She seemed to think the exact same. Something was going on! Something that made people ill and caused them to fall into a coma.   
Maybe Mabel was right, it was time to get his old mystery spirit up again. They would need it! 

\---

Miss Tailor didn't show up the whole day and when the twins set together at a table in the dining hall, all their could talk about was possibilities of what was going on. 

"What could it be? Mhhhh~ Maybe it's ghost virus! Ghost only get a cold from it, but humans get it far worse! Or its a Monster Mosquito that sucks the life force out of people!" Mabel was becoming dramatic at the last part and Dipper just shock his head and gave her a suspicious look.

"Wow Mabel, calm down." he said and rummaged around in his bag until he found what he was searching for.  
"The Journal! You brought it to school?" she asked and looked at the even more rundown looking book.  
"Sure, I thought it would be nice to catch up with it for my symbol analyses, but it seems we have a better use for it now."

He opened it and looked through the pages.   
"So what could it be that we are searching?" he mumbled to himself.  
"Lets see, it makes people ill and fall into an endless sleep." Mabel said and looked at the sides of the book while Dipper flicked through the pages.

"Wait! Stop." She suddenly said and Dipper stopped and looked at the page.  
"Are you serious?" he gulped while his eyes glanced through the far to familiar page. The triangle shape still run cold shiver down his back.

"Think of it! People falling into eternal sleep? Should be no big deal for a dream demon!"  
She kinda had a point, but why? Why should Bill of all creatures suddenly appear here. Bill Cipher who said to have big plans and then vanished forever? Well, almost as it seemed.

"I'm sill sceptic to this and I rather would like to never see that crazy brain demon again!" he just said and slammed the book shut. To many bad memories and he didn't wanted to remember any of them!

"Mhh, maybe I'm wrong, what should Bill want from this people anyway?"  
That was a good question, Dipper thought. The bell then told them it was time for their next lesson, so they went to their classrooms since they took different project groups. 

\---

A year ago Dipper had joined the Astronomy group. It had been really fun at the beginning, but then their teacher changed and it became rather boring.

So there he sat and listened to Mr. Bernstein while he talked about that the NASA was going to send a new something into space.

Dipper didn't even noticed that his eyes were closing and the voice of his teacher went lower, like he was drifting away. Far away. Out of the classroom, out of school, out of the town he called his home, to the stars and galaxies far away from earth.   
Suddenly something quickly flashed beside him and he opened his eyes. Dipper was still sitting at his desk, but he wasn't in his classroom anymore. 

For a moment he wasn't sure if he should be shocked or amazed by what he saw. Stars, thousands of them, bright colors everywhere. It looked like one of that beautiful nebulas. 

Again, something flashed beside him. It made his way through the nebula, followed by a sparking tail.   
"Shooting Stars! Aren't they lovely? Well, you know what I'm talking about aren't you, ...Pine Tree?" 

Dippers head hasty looked in every direction. Where was he, Where did that voice came from? This voice! He would always recognize, because it had filled his head so many times. 

"Here I am, or maybe here?" a laughing was heard from everywhere, made Dipper grab be sides of his desk. Was this a dream-dream? Maybe he was really just dreaming about the demon, not trapped in one of his created ones?

"You really think so?" was asked out of the blue, before the triangle finally showed his shape before Dipper.   
"I'm inconsolable, but this is one a-class dream I made only for you~" he said and pulled off his hat for the human in front of him. 

Dipper didn't quite know what to say. All he thought was that this was the worst dream he had in years. As he looked at the triangle, he suddenly realized how small Bill was. Had he become smaller or Dipper had just become much taller. He couldn't remember Bill being that...little. 

"Rude! But sure, you just became a bit taller, not that it makes any real difference, compare to me." Bill answered again and tidied his bow tie.   
"Stop reading my mind!" Dipper finally hissed and Bill seemed delighted by his respond. 

"It can talk! I was beginning to wonder if you became mute all of sudden~"   
"Why I'm here and why are you?!" Dipper asked, eyes focused on the demon almost glaring at him.  
"That is one good question!" Bill said humming and floated down to the desk. Dipper was still crawling into it. Like he was scared Bill could made him fall into the deepness of the dark void that laid among the beautiful nebula. 

"Relax kid, oh wait that doesn't fit you anymore dose it?" he said and eyed Dipper. "Can't believe its almost five years now! How time fly's, it just seemed like a blink to me." he added and laughed for a moment.   
"You have grown Pine Tree, I almost didn't recommend you!"

Dipper didn't know if he could take that as a compliment.  
"No but seriously, relax! I'm just here to talk."  
"Like I would believe that!" Dipper said and didn't though one second to trust him.  
"You are really breaking my heart, well if I had one!" there was another laughter.   
"I just here to tell you something~"  
"Tell me what?"  
"Oh, so your interested to hear it?" there was a smug tone in Bills voice now.   
"Not really!" Dipper said and turned his head away for a moment. There wasn't anything that he wanted to hear from Bill, not one thing.  
"Not even if I could tell you what happed to your human friends?" he asked and was so eager to hear Dippers response.   
"So it was you!"  
"NAAA! Wrong answer! The whole making people ill and then drag them into a coma is not my style, I just destroy them on spot." Bill said so casual, that it made Dipper shiver slightly. 

"So if it wasn't you, then who?" he asked more curious then he wanted and wished the didn't.  
"Hohoho~ Now we got you curious~ But I wonder if you really want to hear it?" The demon floated off the table and turned his back to Dipper.  
"Just tell me already and then let me go!"

"Nah, maybe I'll tell you next time, seems like this dream will be over soon." Bill just said and suddenly the stars became colourless and faded until there was an entire darkness around them. Only Bills yellow shine, lightened through it.  
Suddenly the world seemed to be rumble and Dipper was shoved out of his seat and fell.  
"See you soon, Pine Tree!" was echoing after him as he fell into the darkness.

"Dipper! Wake up!" someone was shaking him and yelled again and again until he opened his eyes. The whole class was starring at him as he finally raised his head. His heart made a jump and he sat upright in a second. 

"Dude, you can't just fall asleep in class." his neighbour said and some of the others where chuckling.   
Mr. Bernstein looked rather unpleased and just continued with what he was talking about. Until now, Dipper hadn't really realized what had happened. 

Bill! Bill was back! The thought made a cold shiver get trough his whole body. But what did he say? He knew who caused all the comas, or was it a lie again and it was his fault after all? If there was anyone he didn't trust, then it was that dream demon. He needed to talk with Mabel, quick! And he would need to be prepared when Bill came back.


	3. Truth and Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lies have short black legs and wear a tophat!

School was over and Mabel was waiting on a bench outside the school building waiting for her brother. She was speaking to Rebecca, who joined her after a while, as Dipper finally joined them. From the look in his face Mabel could tell something was wrong.

"What's going on? Got a C in a test?" she giggled as her brother let himself fall on the bench beside her.  
Dipper let out a huge sigh and ruffled through his thick brown hair.  
"He is back." he answered, still unbelieving about it.  
"Who is back?" Mabel cocked her head confused.  
"Bill!"  
"What? The triangle Bill? The dream demon Bill? The Bill that..." she was cut of by Rebecca.  
"Dream Demon? Bill? What are you talking about?" she asked.

Mabel turned to her.  
"Ah its nothing! Its just an annoying old friend of us." she said quickly.

Rebecca was about to ask another question, but Mabel just stood up and told her they need to catch the bus.  
"I call you later!" Mabel shouted as they made their way to the bus station. 

\---

"So Bill is behind all this, I knew it!" Mabel said and kicked a empty Pit Cola can. They had already left the Bus and where on their way home.

"Well, he says he isn't." Dipper respond and kicked the can.  
"That's a big lie, if you ask me!" Mabel answered and as Dipper could see his sister was angry. Sometimes he forgot she could be like that, too.

The can was kicked so hard by her, that it flew right into the front yard of Miss Fitzgerald. A second later the said can was surrounded by several cats who belonged to the old woman. 

"Calm down Mabel, we will find out if it was a lie." Dipper said and put a hand on her shoulder.  
"What dose he even want here?" was all she said in respond.  
"I have no idea, he didn't give me any details to begin with."  
"So he will come back again, huh?"  
"I'm afraid he will."

Dipper sighed. He didn't wanted to think of it. Didn't wanted to be afraid of sleeping. He didn't even get enough sleep without demons haunting him. And now he wouldn't even get any. 

When they entered their home, Dipper was glad that his Dad had already cooked something for them. Even if his mind was against food since he felt really stressed by now. His stomach demanded for it very badly, so he stuffed some of the mashed potatoes into his mouth and slugged them down. 

After dinner, Mabel and Dipper went upstairs into her room to discuss what they should do now. Since Bill was suddenly back in action, they needed to be prepared for everything that could happen. 

"So rule number one is?" Mabel asked and looked serious at Dipper.  
"Stop locking at me like that, I wont make a deal with him ever again!"  
"I hope so, I have no sock puppet for you this time."

She smiled and reached for a plush tiger.  
"Well you can still use Mr. Fuzzybeard here."  
"Pass." Dipper said quickly and added a "Lets focus of how we can get rid of him, instead."

Mabel let herself fall back on her bed.  
"Is that even possible? I mean, its not like we haven't tried it before. And there is nothing in the journal!"

His sister was right and it was frustrating to know that they were helplessly at the mercy of the demon to leave them alone again. 

"What if. I mean purely hypothetical. What if Bill wasn't lying and he really isn't the cause of all this." Mabel suddenly said.  
Dipper looked at her in question.  
"But why is he here then? Do you really think he wants to help us?"

Mabel sat upright again.  
"Never! He is up to something, maybe he needs something from us?"  
"And that would be?"  
"I don't know, but if he really knows who the true culprit is, why not let him tell us?"

Dipper shocked his head.  
"He will never just tell us what we want to know, for free."  
"Well then we must be sneaky. Make him spill it by accident or something?" Mabel glistered.  
"Are you telling me we should try to outsmart him?"  
Had Mabel even the slightest idea what she was talking about?  
"Well, something like that?"  
"Impossible!"  
"That coming out of your mouth, I'm shocked Dipper!" she gasped in disbelieve. 

He gave her a questioning look. Sure he was smart and had become even more so over the past years. But that alone was nothing compared to a mind of a being that had lived through centuries. Not that he was worshipping Bill in any way, but there was only a little chance Mabel's plan was working.

"We can at least try, can we?" Mabel then said and pulled Dipper out of his thoughts. They sure could. Not that they had any other choices. So Dipper nodded at her and they spend the next few hours thinking of a way to outwit the demon. 

\---

It was late again as Dipper lay in his bed. It had been an hour since he and Mabel had split. Dipper wondered if Bill would come to him again. 

So there he was once again. Lying on his bed starring at his ceiling. Dipper didn't even know if he wanted to sleep. Maybe he should just stay awake and do some more research on his own, so Mabel could deal with Bill. 

He really didn't felt like meeting Bill at all. Now that he was alone Mabel's plan suddenly sounded poorly conceived. How should he alone manage everything? 

He laid one hand over his eyes and sighed. He was 16 now, why was he still acting like a little child? It made him angry at himself.

Not this time! There was nothing he had to fear. Besides, he knew that he wasn't that powerless in the mindscape. So if Bill tried something, he could fight back. 

As his mind was busy, thinking of all the things he could do to defence himself, Dipper didn't noticed that he fell asleep. 

\---

As he opened his eyes again he was still in his room, lying on his bed. But it had lost all color and everything that was left was gray. Well, he was obviously in the mindscape. So that meant...

"Took you long enough!" echoed through the room. 

Yep, there he was.

"Letting me wait that long. How disrespectful." was added with a acted tone of disappointment.

"Well I'm here now. You could at least show yourself instead of playing around." Dipper snapped while getting up and trying to find out where Bill was. He needed to show the demon, that he wasn't scared of him and that his little tricks were useless now. Well, at least he would try. 

"Oh Pine Tree, such strong words." Bill said and suddenly appeared right beside him. 

Dipper flinched and dropped down on his bed again. Way to go Dipper, way to go!

"Can you just try not act like a jerk for once." he asked huffing and looked up to the floating triangle. 

"You didn't quite catch the whole demon thing, didn't you?" Bill just retorted giving Dipper a sarcastic look.

"So dose that mean all of you are like that?" Dipper got up again and was now face to face with Bill.

"Mostly, but I didn't come here to chitchat over my kind!"

Right! For a moment Dipper had forgot that he was supposed to get information's out of Bill. Now he most focus on what to say. And try not to think to much.  
"Oh right, you said you knew what or who is causing the illnesses. So who is it?"

If Bill had a mouth or even a real face, there would be a bright grin on it now. "Well." he made a little pause. "According to Shooting Star I'm a big liar, so will you even believe me If I tell you?" he asked and floated away.

"It depends on what you tell me." Dipper responded and crossed his arms. He had known Bill would made a game out of this. It would have been a pure surprised if he just...

"Its a Traumfresser." Bill suddenly said while playing around with one of Dipper's Rockets. 

"What?" Dipper was confused. Highly confused. Did Bill just told him without wanting anything in return? Was this dream-dream? All the planning of him and Mabel had been unnecessary. Great.

"A Traumfresser. Maybe 'Dream Eater' makes more sense for you?" he just said casually.  
Instead of facing Dipper, Bill let the little Rocked float through the air. 

"So its a Taumfr...Dream Eater?" Dipper started to search his head after a entry about it in the journal. 

"Don't strain your brain, Pine Tree." Bill said and floated over to Dipper the Rocked right behind him. "Its a creature that eats dreams, well what can I say, they taste delicious!" he chirped.

"You eat dreams?" Dipper asked with a mix of curiosity and horror.

"Sure I do, but I don't need dreams to stay alive like they do!"

"Well let me tell you something about those Traumfresser." Bill then added and continued to talk.  
"They love sweet dreams. Like they are addicted to them. So they go and invade peoples minds and cause them to dream the sweetest dreams they ever had! And soon their victims don't want to wake up anymore." he explained and waved his hand so the rocked floated around Dippers head like he was a little planet. 

"Stop that!" He huffed and grabbed the rocket.  
"So they don't wake up?" 

Bill sighed. "Its really hard to explain it so your little human brain will understand it."

"Just go on, okay?" Dipper pouted annoyed.

Bill giggled and cough slightly afterwards.  
"You know, you humans are totally overlooking the importance of your dreams. They are like one of your life sources and this creatures eating them up like a bag of jelly beans. They slurp what they can get out of their victims until they are dry! And then they go for the next, leaving behind a total meatbag mess."

"That sounds horrible!" Dipper gulped.

"Oh it is! Most of the time these meatbags don't wake up every again." Bill said and watched delighted as Dipper seemed to get alarmed by it a lot. 

"So how can we stop that thing!" busted out of Dipper.

Awww humans, they were so easy to manipulate. Those simple minded creatures and their appreciation of helping others. There he thought Dipper had maybe become a bit more intelligent and mature. But Pine Tree's personality hadn't changed a bit in those few years. Still caring, still unwary. He just was the same jittery little kid he meet four years before.

"Well kid, this will not be that easy!" Bill said and tried to sound dead serious. 

"Don't call me kid!" Dipper huffed.  
"So there is a way?" was added and he really hoped there was. 

"There is, but you will need some things to make it work." Bill respond and rubbed his nonexistent chin.

"Things? Like for a spell or something?" Dipper asked.

"Well it seems I underestimated that little meatlump in your head!" Bill giggled.  
"Your right, a spell is what you will need. Also a few other things, but that could be a little problem."

"Why? Just tell me and I will get them." Even if Dipper was focused on the how to bring down this creature, but something bothered him about all this. It was going to well, something wasn't right.  
"You sure your telling the truth?" he carefully asked the demon the was floating in front of him.

Bill throw him a displeased look.  
"Sure, don't believe what I say. Fine with me. I just wanted to help."

Dipper didn't know what to do. Maybe he was really trying to be of help for reasons only the demon knew. Or he was lying, but why? What would Bill gain from it? Dipper wouldn't make any deals. 

"Well, I do." he then said. "Its just that your not quite the trustworthiest being around, no offense!"

The demon snorted. Well, at least he need to admit that Dipper had a point.  
"Look kid, whatever happened, I won't say I'm sorry. Because I'm not! But that's in the past, so we might want to move on and get over it. This Dream eater is even a problem for me. He might be no big problem now, but when he eats enough dreams he will become quite annoying, even for me." 

That wasn't even a fully lie. They really were annoying when they were full of dreams. They made them quite strong. Still no match for Bills own powers, but sill annoying to deal with!

"Okay okay, I just wanted to make sure." Dipper said and went serious again.  
"So what is it we will need?"

Bill cleared his throat once more.  
"Well, for now we will need four alchemistic stones. The stones of Fire, Water, Earth and Air." Bill said and then looked for something.  
"Oh and this here!" he added and grabbed the urn out of the box.

Dipper looked that the urn in question. "What, that thing? Why?" 

"Oh wait, this is good." Bill chirped. "You know kid, turns out you caused all this mess."

"What!?" Dipper gasped. 

Bill twisted the urn, letting his fingers slide over the symbols it was covered in.  
"See Pine Tree. This urn was the prison of this creature and as you opened it, well you let it free."

Dipper let himself fall down at the edge of his bed. So it was his fault? He needed a moment to realize what he had caused and he suddenly felt so awful. Maybe this was why it was in grunkel Stan's room? So 'he' couldn't reach it. His uncle always said that his obsessions with the supernatural would get them into trouble. And it did, more then once and now it happened again. He was so right, why did he even brought it with him? 

Bill clicked his fingers before Dippers face to get his attention back.  
"Kid, as much as I like to see you suffering, this isn't the right time!"

Dipper went out of his thoughts and looked at Bill.

"See Pine Tree, its up to you. Do you want to bring that that creature down, then stop being a wimp and get those stones! There is still this word you humans love so much, that 'hope' thing." Bill said and rolled his eye. 

It was hard to admit what Bill just said, especially because it was Bill who said it, but Dipper knew he was right.  
There was no time to lose.  
"Alright! So where will we find those stones?"

"That's the spirit!" Bill approved.  
"Well, pack your things kid, you make a nice trip back to Gravity Falls!" he added chirping.

So they were in Gravity Falls? Well, that wasn't that bad. Dipper would ask his parents to visit it over the weekend. It couldn't be that hard right? Just getting some stones. 

The kid had no idea. Just getting some stones, oh well. Pine Tree had no idea what was lying before him.

"Alright. I will give you more details later, that 'beep beep' sound of your clock is making me crazy! Time to wake up Pine Tree." was all Bill said and then clapped his hands. 

In the next moment Dipper woke up in his bed. With his eyes half open he searched for his alarm clock and turned it off. He felt surprisingly well rested this morning. He jumped out of bed and went out of his room to wake up Mabel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not quite satisfied with the conversation of Bill and Dipper, but I worked on this for days and I think this is the best I can do for now~


	4. True Home

Sitting on Mabel's bed Dipper told his sister everything that had happened and what Bill had told him. It was hard to admit that he himself, was responsible for the creature to be freed. But Mabel just slapped his shoulder and told him that they would handle it and everything would be alright again. 

"So all we have to do is collect those stones and then we can defeat this dream eater thing?" she asked with a still sleepy voice. 

"I think so, but there might be other things. Bill said he would give me more details later." Dipper answered and massaged his eyes. "Still can't believe we let him help us."

"Me neither. We just have to be suspicious in case he tries some dirty tricks." Mabel shrugged and went out of bed afterwards. She pulled out a suitcase under her bed. "Can't wait to go back to Gravity Falls!" she chirped and started to stuff clothes into it. 

"We should ask Mom and Dad first." Dipper said and petted Waddles, who was still sleeping on Mabel's bed. 

"I will call Soos and Melody and ask if we can stay at their place, they will be so surprised to see us again so soon." Mabel then said puffing, while trying to closed the overstuffed suitcase by jumping on it. 

Right, Soos and Melody would definitely allow them to stay at their place.  
They had moved together almost two years ago and now lived in their own house at the edge of town, near the Mystery Shack. Since Stan died and the Shack closed, Soos took care of it so it wouldn't went totally ruinous. 

"Alright, I go ask mom and dad then." Dipper said and left the room to get dressed.

\---

It seemed everything would go according to plan. Their parents had nothing against their little trip, but they still had to call Soos and Melody. Mabel would call them later. Meanwhile Dipper had packed his things too, unless Mabel's they fit into a backpack. 

They went to school like usual and when they had lunch break, Mabel called Melody. As they expected, both of them were delighted they wanted to visit them. The twins would explain everything else later. So after school they went home, ate some meal, took their things and went for the bus station once more.

"Uhhh this is so nostalgic!" Mabel beamed the whole way to the station.   
She was right, Dipper felt the same way. It was like their were on their usual trip to Gravity Falls, visiting their Uncle for summer break. How he wished they would just spend the whole summer at the Shack. He would never admit it, but he really missed the times when he was twelve. 

Suddenly something was put on his head.   
"Bop~ I thought you might need it." Mabel smiled at him. 

As Dipper looked into one of the glass windows at the bus station, he saw that he was wearing his old trucker hat. The one with the little blue pine tree on the front. God how he had loved that stupid hat. Mabel must have went to the attic and get it for him.   
A smile crawled into his face.  
"Thanks Mabel." he said with a soft voice and looked at his reflection once more. 

\---

The bus drive went more or less unspectacular. When they finally arrived, Soos already was waiting for them.   
"Dudes!" he cheered as both of the twins walked out the bus. Dipper and Mabel slung their arms around their old friend. Soos hadn't really changed and both of them were really glad about that. It had only been a week since they had meet the last time, but it already felt like an eternity. 

"Its so great to see you again, where is Melody?" Mabel asked as they parted again.   
"Oh she's shopping. We are so going to have a welcome party for you dudes!" Soos respond and took their bags to his truck.   
"A party? For us?" Mabel gasped for a moment. She was so ready to party.   
"Sure! Even if you are just visiting for the weekend, its kinda like at little summer break." he then added. 

Dipper wasn't totally against it, too. But there was still the other thing they had to tell them. They wouldn't be able to spend much time with their friends.   
"Soos, there is something Mabel and I have to tell you." Dipper said as they went into Soos's truck and drove off to his home. 

"What is it, dude?" Soos asked with a quick look into Dippers direction.  
"We have some business to take care of. That's why we really here." he continued to explain. It was sad, he really wished they could just spend some days with their friends.

They waited until their were as Soos's place and as Melody came back home, they sat all together at the kitchen table and Dipper told them everything that happened and why they came here. 

"And now you have to search for this stones and these crazy triangle guy is helping you?" Soos questioned in a quite serious tone.   
"Dudes, that sounds totally crazy bonkers!" he then added, shacking his head. 

"We know, but we have no other choice." Mabel sighed and took a sip from her pit cola can.   
Melody stepped to the table and put down a plate of sandwiches for all of them.

"I don't exactly know where or what that guy is, but I don't believe you two should trust him." Melody tossed in.   
Soos nodded affirming.  
"Wasn't there anything in the journal?" Soos asked and Dipper just shook his head.   
"I read it all over again, there is nothing about this creature or how to stop it." Dipper answered with a sigh.

Really he had tried everything to get to know more about this creatures on his own. He even ditched a class to sneak into the library to use one of their computers to search on the internet. All he found was an old tale that didn't really helped and something about other creatures who seemed familiar, but not quite what he was searching for. 

So all they could do was wait for Bill to tell them what to do and hoping that he wasn't going to betray them. 

They spend the rest of the evening changing the topic to some other themes, like the party they would throw tomorrow and finally school. Mabel told Melody that her dress for the Summer Dance was almost ready and that she couldn't wait to finally dance with Ruben. Ruben by the way, was her new 'temporary crush' how Dipper liked to call them. This earned him a furious glare from Mabel. 

"At least I have someone who will go with me, Nerd!" she bragged and took another long sip from her can.  
"He didn't even asked you yet!" Dipper hissed back at her.  
"He will, I'm sure about that." was her respond.

Dipper bit into his sandwich and chewed it forceful. Sure, he wasn't quite the ladies' man, but he sure would get a date for the dance. Somehow...

 

\---

It was late when Mabel and Dipper laid down on the bed couch. They didn't talked for a moment, just laid there, listening to their surroundings, smelling the smells of the wood around them.   
"I want to visit the Shack." Mabel suddenly said.  
Dipper looked over to her. In the dark he could see the contours of her face. The dim light of a street light fell through a window.   
Dipper reached for her hand and squeezed it.  
"Then lets go." he just said and smiled. 

It was like the spirit of Gravity Falls had gotten back into his body again. There was no fear of the dark or the shadows that hit in it. He knew the shadows of Gravity Falls, they were like old friends to him and nothing to be afraid of if you knew how to handle them. 

Dipper rather fought against the monsters of the forest then getting picked on by some jerks in school. Those were the real things that made him fell uneasy. 

So a few minutes later they had picked a flashlight out of Dippers bag and went outside. They made their way until the normal road ended and took the forest road that lead them to the Shack. 

Mabel rubbed her arms. It wasn't really cold and she was wearing a pyjama unless Dipper who had only his boxers and a shirt. Suddenly a wind blow right through the tree tops, they could hear the old weathercock thing creak in the distance, so they knew they were close. 

Just a few more steps and the Shack stood before them. Like they had never left, it looked exactly like before. They had been here a week ago and the look of the Shack that day had them made just sad. Now it was like a save heaven and a gathering of happy memories. 

The twins went to the front door and searched for the hidden key. Stan had put one under the wooden planks, so they could get in even if he wasn't home. Dipper found it and opened the door. 

Stepping into the old house they both took a moment and then Mabel tried the light switch. And it worked! They both looked at each other and smiled. 

"Lets stay for tonight." Dipper said and went to the stairs.  
"What about Soos and Melody?" Mabel asked not sure if it was right. They would be worried if found them missing.   
"We will be back before they even know we were gone." was answered as Dipper already went up the stair.  
Mabel followed him into their old room in the attic.

Everything was as if they never had left. Mabel run over to her old bed and let herself fall on the mattress. She had thought there would be dust all over the place, but it was so clean. Soos did a good job on making the Shack stay in good shape. She would have to thank him for it tomorrow.

As she looked over, Dipper was already lying on his bed with eyes closed. Was he already asleep? She didn't wanted to wake him up by asking so she just closed her eyes and waited to fall asleep. 

\---

As she opened her eyes again she was lying on a soft ground. As she let her finger run though it she realized that it was dirt and sand. Setting herself upright she looked around. 

She was at the lake, but something was different. Then she realized that it was the color. Everything was gray. 

"Good evening, Shooting Star." was cooed beside her and when Mabel turned she was greeted with the shape of Bill. The demon was floating right next to her and took off his hat to greet her.  
She would really thought he was a gentleman, if she didn't know what kind of a bad trickster he was. 

"We see if this is a good evening, what is it that you want from me?" she asked, as she got up and brushed of the sand and dirt from her pyjama. 

Bill put his hat back on and fixed his tie.   
"Well, I suppose your brother told you everything about our little talk?" he asked, but it wasn't really a question since he knew it already.   
"You might wonder what you are doing here." he paused and waved one of his hands into the direction of the lake.   
"This is where you will find one of the stones I told Pine Tree about!"

Mabel looked into the direction of the lake.  
"So its in the lake?" Mabel asked and stepped closer to it. 

"Beautiful and intelligent!" Bill answered with a smirk in his voice and Mabel felt a slight heat on her cheeks, but then remembered who the one complimenting her was and focused on the lake again. 

"So where is it exactly? It would take weeks to search the whole lake, we don't have that much time." she asked impatient. 

"Follow me." was all that Bill said in respond and then floated into the lake.

At first Mabel hesitated, but then she just stepped close to she water and dived into the it. She opened her eyes and thanks to the bright yellow glowing she could see Bill very clearly.   
While following him she was holding her breath, until her lungs burned. What was that demon thinking, she was no fish or mermaid. 

Mabel thought about to swim back to the surface again, but it was so far away by now and she slightly panicked. 

Suddenly Bill grabbed her Pyjama arm.   
"Its okay, just breath." he said.  
She didn't know what to do and looked at the surface again.  
"Trust me." was added by Bill, with a more serious tone.

She would slap herself later, but she just opened her mouth and - nothing happened. She took some greedy breaths to fill her lungs with whatever she was breathing here.

"See. Your in a dream I made, why should I make you drown if I needed you?"  
He asked and earned a slightly glare from Mabel that made him roll his eye. 

"Would have been nice to know that a bit earlier." she snapped. 

"I just thought you would figure it out by yourself." he said casual and shrugged. "Well, maybe I was to hasty with what I said earlier, but you're still an eyecatcher." he added and giggled. 

"Remind me to punch you in the face later!" she grunted. "Now where is that stupid stone?"

Bill still was laughing. "We are almost there, keep going." 

So they continued to swim deeper into the lake and suddenly a cave appeared before them. It wasn't very big and on the other side was a little hole in its wall. A little blue light came right out of it and when they came closer, Mabel saw that it was a little blue stone shaped like a icosahedron.

Mabel took the stone and hold it in her hands. "So that's it?" she asked and looked at it from every angle. She had thought of something more well, spectacular. Sure it was beautiful with that blue glowing, but she had more lovely stones back home in her crafts box. So what was so special about this thing?

Bill cleared his throat.   
"Are you finished with your speech of disappointment, in that empty head of yours?" he asked annoyed. Really, these humans always thought important things had to be great and huge. It made him roll his eye once more.

Suddenly there was a movement from Mabel and the demon was taken aback for a moment.   
"Did you just hit me?" he asked in disbelieve. 

Mabel had just slapped him on his right edge. Mabel Pines just had hit a demon and she was nothing like sorry. In fact she was ready to do it again.  
"I did, because you totally a jerk and someone needs to teach you some manners!" she snapped. 

Bill went red with anger for a moment. How dare she! How dared this human to just hit him? He was so ready to let her fall into her worst nightmare, maybe devour her sanity as he was at it. But then he pulled himself together again. Not yet, not now. For the moment he needed her. It made him feel sick to his non existing bones to dependent on those meatbags, but he had no other choice. Swallow your pride Cipher, your time will come! Be patient. With that he turned to his usual yellow color again. 

"You know Shooting Star, you have a lot more guts then your brother!" he said while fixing his hat. It sounded way to admiring, but is was true. That was precisely why he more liked to deal with Pine Tree. The boy wouldn't dare anything like this. He still was an easy victim to the demons games. Well, that was what he thought. 

"You are wrong! Dipper is even more brave then I am." she said proudly. Yes it may seem that he wasn't the toughest around, but when things were going down you could always count on him. Dipper had proved this so many times before. 

Like when he tried to chase off that annoying guy at the cinema, who was like twice his size. He wouldn't stop try to hit on Mabel. It earned Dipper a black eye and a slightly broken nose, but he didn't regret it. Or when they went on a trip with their class and Dipper was the only one who dared to enter that creepy barn who said was haunted. There were a lot more stories, but the point was that Dipper wasn't as cowardly as he used to be as a child. 

Bill locked amazed for a moment. He hadn't kept an eye on them for a few years. There had been other things to take care off. But now he felt like he had missed some interesting events. Observing the twins had always been both informative and hilarious. Really, how could two tiny humans stumble into that much trouble all the time. The demon felt himself caught wanting to hear more that happened in the last years. 

He was so deep in thoughts that Mabel was looking at him by now, worried she broke him with her hit. 

"Don't be silly." Bill then suddenly said as he snapped out of it. "I thought bigger battles then you could ever imagine. That little hit was nothing more then a breath of wind." he added and waved his hand. 

Mabel snorted. "Well then, Mr. Almighty, how about you tell me how we will get this stone?" she asked and hold it in front of Bill. "I guess we will have to find it in the real world without your help. But neither of us is a fish, so how will this work?"  
"Relax, your brother already has a solution for this problem. Pine Tree has become really smart I guess." he admit and was greeted with a smug smile from Mabel.   
"I mean for a human, not that this means anything compared to me." he hasty added while coughing slightly. 

"And I actually thought you could be nice for a moment." Mabel shook her head still smiling. "Wait how do you know that?" she suddenly asked.

"Because I visited his dream before yours." he just said and floated back to the entrance of the cave. 

"How is this possible, I mean I fell asleep right after him and you were right there?" Mabel asked as they made their way back. She had left the stone back in the cave, it was useless to take it with her anyway. 

"Dreams are not bound to time. They can be as short as an eye blink or feel like eternity. I can make them start and end like I please. What feels like years to you could only be an hour." Bill explained and he sounded way more politely now then before. Maybe Mabel's little slap was shown effect. 

They arrived back at the shore and Mabel was astounded that her clothes weren't wet at all. She set herself into the grass and looked up to Bill who was still floating beside her. 

"Are you going to betray us?" she asked with a clam voice and Bill looked at her for a moment. Sure the demon wouldn't tell her if he would do, but she just wanted to see his reaction. 

"What is it with you humans and your questioning all the time? What do you expect to hear?" he asked slightly annoyed but calm. 

"The truth I think?" was Mabels answer.

"I'm a demon." 

"So you can't tell the truth?" 

"Sure I can, but the truth leads nowhere."

"Why do you think so?"

"I know from experience."

"What happened?"

Bill starred at her. Why was he telling her all this?   
"Stop that chitchat, why should I tell you about it?"

"Because I think you could need someone to talk to."

Bill made a snorting noise.   
"What in all existence gives you that idea."

"Well, everyone needs someone to talk to."

"I don't need no one!" he hissed. 

"So your all alone? Don't you have any friends?"

What was happening here? Wasn't he supposed to manipulate her? Bill felt like Mabel was sneaking into his own mind and he didn't like it. Not at all!   
Mabel was just trying to get to know Bills motives. She still didn't believed he would do this for the sake of their friends or because he didn't like that dream eater to be around. But to get to this she needs to discover the bottom of him. Wherever that bottom was. 

Bill on the other hand had enough. This wasn't going the way he wanted it to go. "I showed you what you needed to see, time to wake up again." he said clapping his tiny hands and the dream slightly began to fade.

"Wait! Are you running away?" she asked and got up, her body beginning to get transparent. There was no answer from Bill as he disappeared.   
"Fine, but If you need to talk you can..."

Her eyes opened and the first light of the day fell through the window of the attic right into her face. Mabel shut them down for a moment. Then she looked over to Dipper. He was facing the wall and seemed still asleep. 

Mabel got up and stretched her limbs. Even if she just had, had a Bill dream, she felt really good. This could also be because she always had slept very well at this place. 

Suddenly there was a noise and Dipper seemed to wake up. With sleepy eyes he looked over at her and smiled. "We should go back?" he asked and Mabel nodded. 

As they wanted to leave the Shack Soos was already there to look after them. Seemed their old friend had known where to search for them. Even if Dipper and Mabel were sorry that they had just left without saying something Soos just patted their shoulder and gave them a hug. Out of all people he could assume what they were feeling, the most. Soos was more then just a friend, Soos was family!

 

\---

 

Back at Soos's place, Melody had already prepared breakfast. So all of them set together at the kitchen table and talked about the last night. Mayor topic where the dreams with Bill's instructions. Dipper had told Mabel about his, in which Bill had lead him down the mines, but much further. 

"So we went by that dinosaurs in the sap, do you remember?" he asked and Mabel nodded with a bad feeling. She wasn't very eager to have another encounter with that pterodactyl. Dipper felt the same, but the pterodactyl wasn't the problem here. 

Deep down there was a maze which had to be traversed to get to the stone of fire. As Bill lead him through it he tried to memorize the way so he wouldn't get lost down there. He just hoped his memory was that good. 

They already knew where two of the four stones where hidden. Now they just had to hurry and get them. 

"We only have two days." Dipper sighed. Was that even enough time? They had to get two stones in one day. Mabel was way more optimistic then him.

"Oh by the way, Bill told me you had an idea how to get into the underwater cave without drowning?" she asked and looked at her brother, eager to her the result. 

Dipper just smiled at her. "You will love it!" he beamed and his smile grew even wider. 

They just finished the breakfast and Soos brought them to the lake. It was still early in the morning so almost no one was around. Dipper took the journal out of his jacked also a little bag. "You go firsts, sit down." he said to Mabel and she did as he had told her. Dipper opened the bag and let something trickle onto her legs. 

"Are those fish scale?" she asked and looked at the shiny things on her legs. "Where did you get them?" was added.

"Yes they are and I took them as we were at the Shack, Grunkle Stan used them to make fake attractions." he explained and opened the book. As he found the right page he held his hand over Mabel's legs.  
"Pisces et hominem iunctus eritis." he said and Mabel's legs began to merge.

"Wahh! What is going on?!" she screamed, but then she realized what was happening and shrieked with excitement. In the next moment she looked at her Fish tail. 

"I'm a mermaid!!" she beamed at her brother gasping. Suddenly she felt how breathing became more difficult. That was when Dipper lifted her up and gently throw her into the lake. 

"Dude that's awesome!" Soos said, as Dipper went down and put scales on his own legs.   
"Do you want to go with us?" Dipper asked, but Soos shacked his head.   
"Maybe another time, somebody has to look out for you dudes in case something gets wrong!" he said and watched as Dippers legs turned into a fishtail, too.   
"Good luck and be carful!" he added before Dipper rolled into the lake and joined Mabel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally the next chapter! It took so long OTL I'm really sorry guys~ I try to be more fast with the next one!


	5. Blue Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May the BillDip begin~
> 
> Also, longest chapter so far! Yeah~

"Dipper this is so awesome!"  
Mabel was beaming at him while trying her best to not just float around uncontrollable. Reaching for her fishtail she did a few loops before catching it. 

"Woah, it feels so... fishy!" her eyes sparkled. But then they turned into a questioning look who was thrown at Dipper, who was still waiting for his sister to finally calm down again.

Unlike her, he seemed to be totally fine. Almost like he had done this before. "How comes you seem so used to this? How did you even knew about this spell?" she asked more eager and swam closer to her brother. 

"Uhm..well...ohhhm". He tried to avoid eye contact, but Mabel's stare became really uncomfortable.   
"Alright, I knew this spell since our first stay in Gravity Falls." Dipper then confessed.

"What? Why didn't you told me about it?". Mabel looked rather disappointed now. Why did her brother made it a secret? The answer was simple.

"I found out about it after the incident with Mermando, so I was kinda scared you would try to chase after him." Dipper said and rubbed his arm. "I'm sorry I didn't wanted to hide it form you!".

Mabel's frown face turned into a smile. "Awww, its alright Bro Bro. But did you really thought I would be that crazy, to go to find Mermando through the whole ocean?"

Dipper nodded "Definitely!".

"Absolutely!" Mabel agreed and pocked his cheek. Dipper knew her way to well. She would have done something stupid back then if she had known about the spell. But that wasn't important right now. She had to get used to this fish tail and get it to work so they could get this stone. 

With Dipper giving her a hand the two of them made their way to the cave. Mabel lead the way and soon they were in front of its entrance. 

"We just need to get in and the stone is on a..." she was cut off by a sudden growl. "What was that?" Dipper asked and looked around. Suddenly two glowing eyes appear out of the shadow of the cave. 

"Oh boy!" Dipper gasped before the eyes became bigger and a familiar creatures head and neck emerged from the cave. 

Mabel swam a step back. "The Gobblewonker? But I thought it was just a crazy invention by Mc Gucket!" she screeched as the creature seemed not to delighted to see them. In fact it started to try to snatch them with its big mouth. Dipper took his sister and tried to escape.   
As they both looked back it seemed the creature wasn't following them anymore. They could see it swim back into the cave.

"I thinks its guarding that stone!" Mabel stated and looked at her brother who seemed to be in thoughts. 

If the creature really was, then they needed to find a way to distract it.   
"Okay, I try to provoke it and make it chase after me, you go and get the stone." Dipper explained.

"What no?!" Mabel objected. "What if it gets you? You want to be Monsterfood?" she complained hands on her hips. 

"Think about it Mabel. I'm more used to this and I'm a really good 'Merman-swimmer', so trust me!" he tried to be logical here, but his sister wasn't buying it. " C'mon Mabel, we have to try, we need that stone!"

Mabel bit her lips. "Fine!" she gave in. Not that she still was okay with the idea. "If anything goes wrong, you call for me. I kick this monsters butt!" she added and looked dead serious. 

Dipper nodded and then made his way over to the cave. As the monster appeared again, he took a stone from the ground and throw it at the creature. It didn't hit it that hard since the water took most of its speed, but it was enough to make the Gobblewonker angry. With a growl the giant creature went out of the cave and Dipper swam as fast as he could. 

Meanwhile, Mabel went into the cave. It was a lot more dark then in her dream, but she knew the way and soon she reached the spot of the stone. There it was, twinkling at her. Suddenly there was a sound behind her. 

The Gobblewonker was coming back. What happened to Dipper? Was he save? She took the stone and hid herself behind a rock. What should he do now? The monster seemed tiered. Maybe Dipper had exhausted it? Now that it was sinking to the ground of the cave, it looked really old. The small light that went into the cave made it look just like a old gigantic lizard grandpa. 

For a moment, Mabel felt almost sorry for the creature. How long had it been here? Had it always been guarding the stone? She looked at the blue thing one more time. 

As she looked up again it almost looked as if the creature had fell asleep. Maybe now was her chance to escape. So she left her hiding spot and slowly swam in the direction of the cave exit. Mabel hat to swim over the body of the sleeping monster and as she passed by his mouth she hold her breath. 

She was almost at the end of the cave. Could almost see the light, as the damn stone in her hand suddenly began to vibrate and glow. Mabel almost thought it was alarming the creature that it was about to be taken away.

Said creature was about to wake up again, but then suddenly roared. The female twin starred at the creature until it opened his eyes...and spoke?  
"Shooting Star! What are you starring at, get out of here!" was bellowed at her as the monster twisted around like it was trying to shake something off. 

Mabel didn't thought twice. She dashed out of the cave, as fast as she could. Without looking back she swam to the shore. As she emerged from the surface she saw Dipper and Soos at the shore. Dippers shirt was ripped and his left arm was bandaged.

"Dipper are you okay?!" she coughed as she dragged herself out of the water. That wasn't the smartest idea, since she began to have difficulties with breathing again. Dipper was at her side in an instant. 

"Separate pisces et homines!" he said and Mabel's fishtail turned back to her usual legs. 

As she could breath normally again, she looked at her brother who seemed to be relieved to see her. "What happened to your arm?" Mabel asked and looked over the bandages. 

"Ahh its nothing serious, I just wasn't as fast as I thought." he said with a awkward smile rubbing his still wet hair. "What about you, are you alight?" he then asked and looked all over her to see if she was okay.

"I'm fine. Oh and look what I got!"  
She opened her hand and there was the stone. 

Dipper took it and looked at it. It was almost as big as his palm, blue and shaped like a icosahedron. What an interesting shape, he thought.   
"All that trouble for this stone?" Soos asked and looked at it, too. 

Mabel let herself fall on the ground beside him and took a deep breath.   
"I think I just got saved by Bill." she suddenly said. 

Dipper was dragged out of his thought about the stone and looked at his sister. "What? Really? How?" 

Mabel explained to them what had happened after she entered the cave. The two males were listening and when she told that the stone had began to glow and vibrate, Dipper looked at it again. 

"And then this voice called me Shooting Star and told me to get out of there and I just swam away as fast as I could!" she said and ended her explanation. 

If Bill's help went this far, then there was something more important behind this stones then they knew. Something wasn't right. Dipper couldn't point out what it was, but something was going to well. 

"Maybe he isn't as bad as we thought!" Mabel said as she saw her brothers face looking like his brain was boiling from all the thinking. 

"What makes you believe that?" Dipper asked in disbelieve. 

Mabel hold one hand up, so the sun wasn't blending her. "Ahhh call it female intuition, but I think he is just lonely and bored!"

"Oh, so we should start being his friends and entertain him?" he almost laughed sarcastic.   
Mabel go up and looked her brother in the eyes.

"Mabel, you can't be serious!"

"You bet I am!"

"Why should we want to be friends with him? Remember what he did to us? What kind of crazy idea is this?"

"I think this is a really good idea. Stop being so unforgiving Dipper."

"You can talk, he didn't stole your body!"

"We stopped him and you got your body back didn't you? Maybe we can turn him around? Being a good guy, you know." Mabel's eyes were sparkling.

Dipper just felt a headache coming up and rubbed his face.  
"You watched to many movies Mabel, this will not work in reality!" 

"Oh c'mon! Imagine what you could learn from him! Think about all the stuff he knows about."  
Now she had him. Mabel knew how eager for knowledge her brother was.

One hand slid away from Dippers face. When had his sister became so manipulative and why was she so good at it?  
"Ahh fine! But if its not working we just go after the dream eater and then try to get rid of him." 

Mabel nodded hasty and smiled into herself. 

"I don't want to interfere you Dudes, but we might want to go home. There is also a party to prepare for." Soos said and got up. Helping the twins stand up, they agreed and made their way back to the truck. 

\---

Melody had already began to decorate the Shack with balloons and streamers. When Dipper and Mabel arrived together with Soos, the twins felt so nostalgic. The Shack was looking like in the old days, when their uncle threw party's here to fleece people. They almost had the feeling as if Stan would step out of a door any minute, to tell them not to loaf around and make themselves useful. Any work he could gave them, would be worth to see him again. 

"Oh there you are. Did you get it?" Melody smiled as she put some bottles of Soda on a table. Dipper took the stone out of his pocked and showed it to her.   
"Nice! So are you ready for a little party? Seems most of the town is coming." she said and put some cups in their hands. 

Mabel was more then ready. Gosh she was so eager to see her friends again. She had texted Candy and Grenda already, even Pacifica was coming. They would dance the whole night and have so much fun. She couldn't wait.   
Dipper on the other side had other plans. Not that he wasn't against partying, but there were more important things to do. He was planning to search for some more information's about the stone they just got. Maybe it would be helpful to know more about it and the others.

But first they helped Melody with the rest of the decoration. Its wasn't that late yet so they spend most of the afternoon running around and preparing stuff. 

Later Soos left and came back with something that could have been a grill or a steam engine, they weren't sure.

"Oh boy." Melody sighed with a smile and went over to it. Dipper and Mabel followed her.  
"Woah, Soos what is this?" Mabel asked and tried to touch it but Melody   
signified her to not do it.

"Isn't it cool Dudes? Its an old grill I fixed. I added some things to make it more effective." he said and patted the black metal. 

"Honey, you are sure you want to use it today? Well, I just think you want to party with us and not just take care of it all evening." she tried her best to talk him out of using it. She really loved Soos, really! But sometimes the things that he 'fixed', didn't quite worked as planned. And she was really afraid what this grill could cause.   
But it seemed Soos was eager to try it out. Well, maybe everything would be fine. She would have an eye on it. 

\---

Finally the sun began to set and the music started. Soon the Shack was full of people and while Mabel was busy hugging and talking to her friends, Dipper tried to sneak out to make some research. He was almost out of the dancing room as he bumped into someone. 

"Could it be? Hey Dipper!" a female voice called.  
Dipper looked at the person in front of him rubbing his forehead.   
"Wendy!" he almost screamed and sheepishly smiled afterwards. He almost hadn't recognised her with her short hair. 

"Man, I hoped to see you here. Gosh, look at you!" she took a step back and looked at him all over. "You look pretty grown up dude." she said and gave him a nudge against his shoulders. 

Dipper felt his face getting really hot. It was strange to be at on height with her. He could see her right in her eyes. She still was so pretty and really, the short hair looked good on her.

"Its nice to see you, too! Nice hair by the way." he said calm as he relaxed again. 

"Thanks, I thought I try it short for once. So where are you going, the party is right behind you." she asked and pointed at the people dancing on the dance floor. "How about we go for a dance?" she asked with a smile. 

"Ahh I have to take care of something first, but we catch up on it later!"  
With that he made his way to the attic. It was strange, a few years ago he would have done everything to dance with Wendy. Not the we wasn't wanting to dance with her, she was a really good friend, but nothing more. There were more important things to take care of now. 

Dipper went over to the bookshelves. Over the years he had collected all kind of books and stored them here. He was searching for some about alchemism. There must be at least one, he could remember buying the book. When he finally found two that looked promising, he went to his old bed and let himself fall on the mattress. Dipper opened the first book and began to read through it. 

After an hour he had already put the first book aside and was now busy with the other. He was about to give up and go back to the party when he looked at all the books in his shelf once more. Maybe he was searching in the wrong direction? Maybe those stones had other purposes?

He got up and took another book. This time one about spells and summoning. This books never really interested him. Even with all the supernatural around him, he was more a scientist then a wizard. 

"There must be something in here." he said to himself as he walked back and forth in the tiny room, while reading the book. He had reached the chapter of 'Portals and Gates' as his legs became awfully heavy. His whole body suddenly felt so tired. Going back to the bed the last he could remember was a picture of something like a circle, the mentioning of a replacement and muffled music in the distance. 

\---

When Dipper opened his eyes again he was still in the attic, but the room had a far to well known gray color.   
Getting up he looked around just to see Bill, floating over the wooden floor, just that there was no floor below him. The demon seemed to look at the party that was still ongoing. 

"You humans call that a party?" he suddenly asked before his eye fell on Dipper. The young man got up and went over to the floating triangle.  
Looking through the hole, he saw Mabel dancing with her friends. 

"I think its a really nice one." he just answered smiling at how much fun Mabel seemed to have. At least the party seemed to make her forget about all the stressful days that laid behind them.   
He saw Wendy talking to some of her friends, laughing about something.   
Maybe it had been the wrong decision to cut himself off the others. He could have been down there, dancing and having fun. 

"This is in no way dancing!" Bill suddenly snorted. 

"Why no...Stop that!" Dipper hissed. He always forgot that Bill had this nasty habit of reading peoples minds. 

Bill didn't really care about Dippers objection at all.   
"I mean look at them. They are just standing around shaking, like they are scared of each other. - Really, where were this glorious times when this meatbags actually knew how to make throw a party and how to dance? And this music...the worst!"

Looking at the dancing people again, Dipper had to chuckle. Bill had a point. This had nothing to do with 'dancing'. Suddenly he remembered his parents. Sometimes when they were in a really good mood and had one of their 'lovey-dovey' moments, they would dance around in the kitchen or living room. 

"You know what Pine Tree? I show you some real entertainment." Bill suddenly said and snapped his fingers.   
Something like a portal appeared behind the demon and he told the teen to follow him. Dipper didn't moved. Should he just follow him? Was this maybe a trap? What was Bill planning?

"Yesh Kid, relax. You life must have been so boring, with you being such a chicken." Bill said sneering as Dipper still wasn't following him.

Seemed he touched a nerve there, as Dipper suddenly moved closer to the portal. He was no chicken at all. And of all people, well beings, Bill was the last to call him that. With his heart beating a little faster he stared into the dark void before him. 

There were suddenly hands on his shoulders and Bill said something from behind him. "Just go. Don't worry it will not hurt....much!" the demon said with a mischievous voice and with that he gave Dipper a thrust, so the young man stumbled through the portal. 

Dipper heard Bill's laugh for a moments then he was falling. Falling into a bottomless darkness. He screamed until his fall suddenly slowed down.   
Bill was floating beside him now.

"Shame on me, I totally forgot you can't float, my bad." he apologized still chuckling. 

"Oh yeah, you are so sorry!. Where are we?"

"Just a moment."

Suddenly the darkness got a few lights. Tiny stars started to blink in the distance. More and more sparkled and their light turned the black into blue. It just looked like they were slowly floating through space. And then before them appeared a red carpet. Dipper carefully landed on it. 

It felt so hard to take in everything at once. Dipper didn't know where to look first. The blackness had fully turned into a shining space landscape. Planets, asteroids, stars, even some nebulas. 

"Don't lose your head Pine Tree, we are almost there." Bill said and floated along the carpet. As Dipper followed him he finally noticed the great building they were heading to. 

"A pyramid?" Dipper asked.

"Isn't that a nice shape?" Bill hummed delighted. 

"Did you made it?" 

"Oh no, this place is much older then me and that's hardly believable!"

"Who made it?"

Bill didn't answered the question and finally had arrived the entrance. Beside the big stone double door were standing two Statues. One was a man with a lion- the other with a crocodile head. Both of them were wearing suits and kinda looked like a strange pair of bouncers to Dipper. Suddenly they moved and started to speak in a language Dipper couldn't understand.

Bill seemed to understand it and spoke to them. The demon took a moment to thing about something but then continued to speak and suddenly the doors were opened.

"Alright. Lets go inside." he said cheering and Dipper followed him, starred down by the statues. 

They entered the door and for a moment Dipper was dazzled by a bright light. The next he heard was soft music and the sound of chatting people. When he opened his eyes he was stunned. Whatever he had imagined, this went far beyond. 

The first thing that came to his mind was a movie night with Mabel where they watched "The great Barneby" and this was like the more intense version of it. There were so many colors and lights, fancy decoration and bar like counters everywhere. 

Dipper tottered a few steps back and was caught by someone.  
"Haha, a bit to much for you huh?" was almost laughed as the young male turned around. 

"Bill?" Dipper breathed at the person who was holding his back. Well person was not the right word, but the figure that was behind him had what looked like a human body, that was dressed in a yellow and black suit. Only that where his head should be, was just a floating triangle with an eye on it. 

"Well dressed and ready to party! I hope you are approve of your outfit? Kind of a dress code here." Bill hummed and the words came out of an actually mouth, that appeared right under his eye. 

When Bill let go of him, Dipper looked at himself. He was wearing a blue and black suit, almost matching the one Bill was wearing. 

"What, were you seriously thinking you could come here dressed in these human rags?"

The demon was looking at him for a moment then he began walking. Dipper quickly followed him and now that he looked at the other people, they were all looking the same yet different. Some had object-like heads like Bill, some others looked really scary and some seemed to be made out of light and engery. But all well dressed like they had jumped out of an old movie. 

Dipper had so much more questions, but he was busy trying not to lose Bill between all the bodies around him. 

Finally they arrived at a table slightly away from the crowd, Bill took a seat and gesticulated the young teen to take one as well. 

They were sitting for a moment, when Dipper burst into questions. "What are those? What is this place? Where are we?" he bubbled and looked at Bill who was brightly grinning at him. 

He knew Pine Tree would find this more then interesting. Everything to get this little nosy human from researching things that could cause trouble to him. He should have known that the young teen would be suspicious. Like he always was. So it was best to keep him busy with other things. Warp his simple human mind around something else.

"This is some kind of Club I think." he answered and went back to look at the people around them.

"A Club?"

"Well, you humans sure would call it that. For us, its more like a neutral zone to relax and have some fun."

Dipper looked around once more, at all the other people who were dancing or just chatting to each other.   
"Those are demons?"

"What a smart kid you are. Yes, demons and some other beings."

Suddenly someone came to their table and put some glasses on it. They were filled with a strange liquid that seemed to change its color every second. 

Dipper looked at it for a moment before he went back to his questions.   
"So its a Club? Well, a neutral zone, why..."

"Is it looking like this?" he was cut off by Bill. He didn't even need to read Dipper's thoughts to know what he was thinking. If he liked anything about this human, then it was his hunger for knowledge. The demon could almost seen it glistering in his eyes. One day, it would might break his neck.

"Well, we change the theme every century." Bill then added.

"But why this? It looks so well, so like human like?" Dipper asked, looking at the decoration once more.

"Its the decade between 1920's and 1930's. American style to be exact."

"But why?"

Bill just shrugged. "Because we were in the mood? because we liked it? Because I got to choose a new theme and I loved this time, so I took it?" 

Why did there always had to be a big meaning behind everything? Humans... Bill shook his head. Sometimes they were so interesting and then they got totally boring in the other moment. (His eye fell on Dipper again, who was looking at the glass in front of him.) Except this one. 

"Afraid? Take a sip, I wonder what will happen." he chuckled as Dipper felt kinda caught.

"I'm not sure about this! What is it?" the young teen asked.

Bill took his own glass and held it against the light. It made the colors shine through and fall onto his yellow triangle face.   
"I have no idea." he then said and emptied the glass. "But it tastes good!"

Dipper just looked at him with a mixture out of disbelieve and curiosity.  
Was the demon making fun of him, or did he really not knew what he just drunk? On the other hand. Where did the fluid go? Bill didn't even got a neck? Uhhh this was so confusing, yet so interesting. 

Looking at his own glass Dipper lifted it and tried to smell what was in it. It was some kind of sweet sent. Should he dare? What if it was poisonous for him? Sure nothing a demon could kill, but a human? 

"Just remember, your real body is still back in your world, sleeping on that filthy attic bed." Bill reminded him. "So go on, try."

Right! He wasn't really here. How was that even possible? They weren't in the dreamscape anymore. That sure was thanks to some demon magic. Maybe he should stop questioning Bill and his powers.  
He finally brought the glass to his lips and took a sip. 

In the next moment his whole body tighten. Sour! It was just tasting sour!  
He had to take all his strength to swallow the liquid and not spit it all over the table. 

"Ahh I should have warned you, the green color is awful!" Bill laughed at him. "Quick, take another sip!" he then ordered.

The liquid had turned yellow by now and even if it maybe was dump, Dipper followed the order and took another sip. This time it tasted better, much better! Fruity with a slightly taste of cream. 

"What is this?" he asked as the liquid turned red. 

"Funny isn't it? Every color has its own taste, but its always a bit different so you never really know what you get."

"This is amazing!"  
Really, it was amazing. Aside from the drink, he already got so many new information's. Dipper wished he had brought some kind of note-book so he could write everything down. As he thought about the possibility of even bringing one here, he looked at Bill, who was looking at the dancing people on the dance floor. Dipper followed his gaze for a moment. Their dancing looked a lot more elaborate then what they did back at the Shack. Not that he had any knowledge in it. Just shaking around was all he could do. How would he even survive the summer dance? Not that he had a date yet and if he had, he would totally make a fool out of himself.

"Well, then lets change that." Bill chirped and was already standing beside him. Offering him a hand.

"Ahhh...what... wait, are you intending to dance with me?" he asked confused starring at Bills hand, who was still offered to him.

"That was my intend indeed. What's the problem Pine Tree?" Bill looked at him from above, still not moving his hand away.

"I can't...I mean, we can't. Men don't dance with each other!" Dipper said hasty, looking around if anyone was looking at them. Not that it seemed to bother anyone. 

"Really?" Bill rolled his eye. "Do we look like genders matter to us?" he added and pointed at the dance floor. Every kind of creature or being was dancing with each other. It didn't matter what gender they were or if they even had one it seemed. 

Dipper made an unsure noise. He couldn't even dance to begin with. That would totally end in a disaster! 

"Pine Tree, if you don't take that hand in an instant, I swear I make you wear a dress to settle that gender role thing for you." Bill had such a serious tone in his voice that Dipper immediately grabbed his hand. He really didn't wanted to wear a dress. So he took the more lesser evil. If Bill even could be count as 'lesser evil". Dipper hardly doubt it. 

Being dragged by Bill they arrived at the edge of the dance floor. Dipper had no idea what he was supposed to do now. 

"Relax, I teach you how to dance and then you can show off at that summer dance thing." Bill said and waited for the next song to start. 

Dipper was really nervous now, but did as Bill asked him to do. As the music started he felt his heart beat so fast.

"Don't be nervous. We start slow, no worries. Just follow my lead, put your right arm on mine and make a step back with your right foot." The demon was trying to be gentle here. Knowing that any harsh words only would just make poor Pine Tree even more nervous. The legs of the teen already looked like jelly. It made the demon chuckle in his mind. This was really fun. 

Dipper did his best to just follow the steps of Bill, watching his feet. After a few mistakes he kinda got that they always repeated the same steps. Finally he looked up and was meet with a smirking Bill.

"Pretty good!" Bill smiled as Dipper finally got it.

The young teen didn't know what made him feel better. The success or the compliment of Bill. Maybe both, because suddenly he felt really good and even listened to the music that suddenly seemed really nice. Smiling back at the demon they continued dancing.

 

Blue Moon  
You saw me standing alone  
Without a dream in my heart  
Without a love of my own

Blue Moon  
You knew just what I was there for  
You heard me saying a prayer for  
Someone I really could care for

And then there suddenly appeared before me  
The only one my arms will hold  
I heard somebody whisper please adore me  
And when I looked to the moon it turned to gold

Blue Moon  
Now I'm no longer alone  
Without a dream in my heart  
Without a love of my own

 

The last tones of the music died down and Bill took Dipper aside. Really, he would have gone for another dance, that was really fun.   
"Easy Pine Tree, that where just the basics! You have a lot more to learn."  
Bill said in a calm, yet delighted tone. Pine Tree sure was still an adorable child, even if he looked older now. 

"That was really cool, my legs are still shacking." Dipper admit slightly dancing aside Bill, before bumping into someone. 

"Oh sorry I didn't mea..." he wanted to apologize, but was taken aback when he looked up and saw the figure he just stumbled into. He wore a white and green suit and had an Object head like Bill, with one eye in the middle. Only that his was a star with different colors and Dipper new this star very well. 

"Oh look what we have here, a human, how interesting!" the star's voice was kinda like Bills, but with a bit more dark tone. 

Said other demon was immediately on Dippers side, slightly pushing the teen behind him.   
"Good evening, Crypto." Bill said with a smile, but it was falser then anything Dipper ever had seen.

"Cipher, what a delight. So the human is with you? I knew you had a thing for this flashbags, but that you keep one as a pet." Crypto snickered, gazing to Dipper. 

"I'm not his pet!" Dipper retorted with a huff, stepping forward again. 

"You are not? What are you then?" was asked with a slight growl by the star. Maybe that little human didn't know with whom he was talking, being so cheeky to a demon.

Dipper was nervous and didn't know what to say. So he took the first thing that came to his mind. 

"We are friends." he hasty said, then realized what he just said and looked at Bill. He was sure to see him being indignant, but the demon just smiled at him. 

"Hahaha, you and Cipher are friends?" for a moment Crypto laughed, but then became serious again. "Someone like him has no friends and if you smart kid, you never trust him and run as fast and wide as you can."

"You heard the boy, we are friends. Don't judge others by your own standards!" Bill growled, the fake smile was gone. His head was starting to turn into a rose tone that soon turned red. 

Both demons were staring at each other. By now the chatting had almost died down. People were now starring at them and Dipper realized that this was a serious situation. If this was a neutral zone, they sure had rules against fighting. 

"Its no worth it, lets just go." Dipper spoke up to Bill. Really hoping he would calm down. To Dippers surprise he did! His head turned yellow again and he turned around.

"Your right, this isn't worth anything." he hissed, gave Crypto a derogatory gaze and then he and Dipper made their way through the crowd. 

\---

A few moments later they were outside the Club again, sitting on the red carpet. Well, Dipper was sitting, Bill had turned back into a triangle without human body and floated beside him. 

Eye closed and arms crossed he was cursing himself. What had gotten into him? That could have ended really bad, well mostly for that scum Crypto of course! 

"Sorry, I think that was my fault." Dipper suddenly said and Bill cracked his eye open. 

'Yeah, it pretty much was all your fault!' went through Bills head, but all he said was a "Don't think about it."  
The evening could have been so much fun, but now it was ruined. He really needed to destroy something later. Maybe a little galaxy or something, to raise his mood again. 

Dipper rubbed the back of his head and sighed.   
"Did you mean what you said earlier. The friend thing." Dipper asked.

"Did you mean it?" came the question back. 

Dipper had to think about it for a moment. He just had said it in the heat of the moment. Mabels words were coming back to his mind. Making Bill a friend, turning him around. To be honest, the evening had been fun and Bill had been a lot more likable then usual. So maybe there was a chance, maybe Mabel was right. They should at least try.

"I did." he then nodded and looked at Bill. 

"Then I mean it, too!"

The demon wasn't sure what to think. He was just playing along, right? Just pretending to be their friend, ally or whatever they wanted him to be, until he got what he wanted. They were just puppets to him. Just...puppets!

"Alright, time to bring you back home!" Bill then said with a chirping voice and Dipper got up.

\---

Dipper stepped out of the void again and was back in the Shack attic. It was silent by now and it seemed the party was long over.   
He just hoped Mabel wasn't worried because he didn't showed up anymore. There another thing came to his mind again and he looked at Bill once more. 

"I almost forgot to thank you for saving Mabel back at the lake! That was a great help." he said and smiled at the demon. 

Bill was taken aback for a moment, but caught himself quickly. "It was nothing, really." he said and waved his hand. "Well, I have other things to do now, good luck with the next stone and... take care of you Pine Tree." he quickly added and in the next moment he disappeared. 

\---

Dipper opened his eyes, it was still dark. Someone had put his books away and a blanked over him. In the bed across the room he could hear the familiar sleeping noises of his sister. Turning around Dipper faced the wall, thinking about everything that happened. He couldn't wait to tell Mabel everything about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you all enjoyed it ;v;
> 
> "The great Barneby" is in fact "The great Gatsby" (awesome movie btw!)  
> The song played while Dipper and Bill dance is "Blue Moon" by Frank Sinatra <3


End file.
